Arab Spring Winter
• Worth reading: The Muslim Brotherhood’s 213-Year Revolution
But the Islamist organization that seized the revolutionaries’ initial momentum has been fighting a very different battle for nearly a century, and Washington should note that the Brotherhood essentially views Egypt’s revolution as part of an ongoing struggle against western influence and values. One of the Brotherhood’s own spokesmen, after all, said as much in Washington.
• Hezbollah’s really rumbling in Syria now. Rebels say some 1,000 Hezbollahniks “invaded Syria” in the last 24 hours. Should we call it a surge? According to YNet:
Battles between Hezbollah and the Syrian rebels escalated after the death of Revolutionary Guard official Hassan Shateri.
• CNN updates the seven Syrians being treated in an Israeli hospital. And Israeli media reports that Golan Druze leaders are appealing to Jerusalem to let the seven Syrians remain in Israel when they leave the hospital:
“It is my duty as an Israeli lawyer of Syrian descent,” he said. “I expect the Israeli authorities to act according to the values of the Jewish people in this matter. The State of Israel needs to act with caution when it considers repatriating people who are likely to be sentenced to death.”
Rest O’ the Roundup
• Australia’s ABC News reports that Israel arrested Ben Zygier after he leaked detailed Mossad secrets to Australian intelligence.
The ABC’s Foreign Correspondent program understands that Zygier met with ASIO officers in Australia and gave comprehensive detail about a number of Mossad operations, including plans for a top-secret mission in Italy that had been years in the making.
It is unknown who initiated the contact.
• Why not let Australian intelligence agents use Israeli passports? asks Amir Mizroch.
We’re on the same side no?
• Worth reading: President Obama’s national security adviser, Thomas Donilon, got op-ed space in the NY Times to call on the European Union to blacklist Hezbollah.
Now that Bulgarian authorities have exposed Hezbollah’s global terrorist agenda, European governments must respond swiftly. They must disrupt its operational networks, stop flows of financial assistance to the group, crack down on Hezbollah-linked criminal enterprises and condemn the organization’s leaders for their continued pursuit of terrorism.
Meanwhile, Israel HaYom notes that EU foreign ministers are scheduled to meet tomorrow.
• Israel sent cutting edge electronic warfare systems to the Turkish air force. It’s the first Israeli delivery of military equipment to Turkey since the Mavi Marmara incident. Details at Today’s Zaman.
• Intel: Israel May Not Remain “Start-Up Nation”
• For commentary on the Iranian nuclear issue, see the Financial Times (via Google News).
• An interesting Jewish Chronicle op-ed posits that there’s a yawning chasm between how Jews and non-Jews perceive what is anti-Semitic and what isn’t. The non-Jewish public doesn’t take concerns for anti-Semitism as seriously because it doesn’t perceive the problem the way Jews do.
(Image of mosque via Flickr/Fighting Irish 1977)
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream.
